Reflector bowl



J. S. HAMEL REFLECTOR BOWL March 7, 1950 Filed July 9, 1948 INVENTORSamaeZHame Patented 1 Mar. 7, 1950 REFLECTOR BOWL Jacob Samuel Hamel,West Islip, N. Y., assignor to Lightolier, Incorporated, a corporationof New York Application July 9, 1948, Serial No. 37,817

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to the artof illumination and especially toreflector bowls for lamps.

Where conventional direct and indirect type lamps use one central bulbsurrounded by a conventional reflector bowl for the indirect light and aplurality of individual bulbs surrounded by a conventional shadesupported by the bowl for the direct light, the complete unit is bulky,relatively expensive utilizing as it does a plurality of sockets andbulbs and wasteful of light as the direct rays of the individual bulbswill spread in all directions and hence only a small proportion thereofwill be directed downwardly by the shade.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide a reflector bowlthat will afford both direct and indirect illumination from aconventional source of electric light, which bowl is attractive inappearance, relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture, which willdirect the rays of light from a bulb therein both upwardly towards theceiling and downwardly to a useful area for reading and will alsodiffuse the illumination in a horizontal direction to prevent glare andeye strain, which bowl requires but a single bulb therein and is devoidof additional reflector elements or the like which would add to the costof the unit.

According to the invention these objects are accomplished by thearrangement and combination of elements hereinafter described andparticularly recited in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of various possibleembodiments of the several features of the invention,

Fig. l is a fragmentary cross sectional side elevational view of areflector type lamp showing the bowl thereon with parts broken away andmounting a lamp shade,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary cross sectional side elevational view of thebowl on a larger scale,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the bowl partly in cross sectionand on a larger scale taken along line 3-3 of Fig. l and Fig. 4 is afragmentary cross sectional view of the bowl on a larger scale takenalong line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawing the bowl comprises a substantiallycup-shaped member I I which may be pressed from clear glass or moldedfrom suitable transparent plastic, and the wall I 2 of which tapersinwardly from the mouth 13 thereof to the edge M of the base l thereof.The base l5 as is clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, slopes downwardly andinwardly from edge I4 to an annular shoulder it, about an axial circularopening ll in the base 15. Opening IT has a depend- 2 ing rim I 8desirably with a bead l9 integral therewith, about the outer peripheryof said rim, shoulder it and I bead l 9 defining an annular groove 23therebetween. I

The wall E2 of the bowl which is smooth on its inner face 24 has, on itsouter face 25, a plurality of parallel, substantially verticaltriangular grooves or flutes 26 extending from edge 14 to mouth is ofthe bowl and the outer face 25 has a translucent enameled coating 21which may be applied in any conventional manner.

The base l5 of the bowl which is transparent, is smooth on its slopingouter face and has a plurality of annular steps or terraces 29 on theinner face thereof, four of which are illustratively shown and which inconjunction with the smooth outer face of the base form four prisms A,B, C and D. The upper face ill of each of'the terraces slopes downwardlyslightly towards opening il in the base and is preferably stippledor'roughened for the purpose hereinafter set forth. The side wall ofeach of the terraces is substantially vertical and may have a pluralityof vertical triangular notches 33 therein with the apex of each of thenotches extending part way through the terraces.

The reflector bowl H, may be mounted in conventional manner by beingpositioned over the mouth 35 of the conventional husk -36 of thestandard reflector type lamp with the depending rim 3 of the bowlencompassed by the rim 3! of the husk and with annular shoulder l6seated on said rim 3l. One or more set screws 38 are provided extendingtransversely through the wall of the husk to engage the wall of groove23 securely to retain the reflector bowl on the husk.

A lamp shade 39. of conventional construction may be used. Desirablysuch shade may have a support bracket 4! at the top thereof with a U-shaped bend l2 therein whereby the shade may be accurately centered onthe reflector bowl I l as shown in Fig. 1.

With a light bulb 43 screwed in socket 44 in housing 36, the lamp isready for use.

The operation of the reflector bowl hereinabove described in as follows:

When the bulb 43 is lit by the turning of switch 45, raysof lightemanate in all directions from filament F as shown by dot and dashlines.

The ray of light designated by the letter a will pass directly out ofthe mouth l3 of the bowl toward the ceiling, the rays of lightdesignated by the letters I) and 0 will hit the inner face 24 of thebowl H and be reflected upwardly therefrom and thereupon pass throughthe mouth of the bowl. Rays 1) and c in addition to being partiallyreflected upon hitting face 24, will also pass through wall I2 and againbe reflected upon hitting the outer face 25, the enameled coating 2'!aiding in such reflection. It is to be noted that due to the refractionof the rays as they pass through wall I2 the reflected ray from outerface will have a smaller angle of incidence than when reflected'frominner face 24. It is thus seen that substantially all of the light fromrays b and c is reflected through the mouth I3 of the bowl.

However, it is desired that the wall of the bowl be illuminated so thatthe latter will glow, thereby also illuminating the lamp shade, and thatthere be no glare from suchillumination. To this end the outer face 25is provided with the plurality of flutes 26 above described. When a rayof light which passes through the wall I2 hits against the enameledouter surface '27 thereof, a portion of such light will be reflected atan angleas shown in Fig. 4 due to the notches 26. Thus practically nodirect beams of light will shine through the Wall I2 hence there will beno glare and there will be a diffused soft glow on the outer face 25 ofwall I2. Ray d which is a horizontal ray, willnot be reflected upwardlybut will pass through the wall I2 and hit the walls of notches 26thereby being reflectecl'as above described to provide a soft glow.

With respect to rays e, f, g and h these will hit the stippled surfaces3| of the terraces 29. Referring-specifically to ray e, when it hits thestippled surface 3| of prism A, the stippled surface will in partdiffuse the ray e so that there will be no glare and the ray will berefracted downwardly. By reason of the prism A the ray of light .e as itemerges from the smooth face of prism A as ray e will be bent as showntoward the opening I1 of the bowl which is also true of rays f, g and h.

Thus we see that the usable area of relatively intense light through thebase will be between the extensions of the refracted rays e and h, andthe lamp shade 34 is desirably of such size that no bright ray of lightwill abut thereagainst so the outermost ray e will pass through the openmouth 39' of the shade.

As a result of the construction herein described, by the use of butasingle bulb in conjunction with the reflector bowl II, there are threedistinct and separate areas-of light, one through the open mouth I3 ofthe bowl which is directed towards the ceiling and which is very brightand glaring so that it will have adequate intensity to be reflecteddownward from the ceiling for indirect lighting; a second area throughthe wall I2 of the bowl which is diffused and soft, thereby illuminatingthe shade 39 therearound with a mellow herein, casts a bright light forindirect illumination, a diffused concentrated light of sufficientintensity for reading and a mellow glow through the shade which will notshine on the eyes of the reader with resultant discomfort thereto.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and manyapparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be madewithout departing from the scope of the claim, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and-not in alimitingsense.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United Statesis:

A reflector bowl .for a source of light, said bowl comprising asubstantially cup-shaped memher having a substantially verticalwall toencompass such source of light and a substantially transparent base,said wall having a smooth inner surface and a plurality of substantiallyvertical parallel notches in the outer surface thereof, said outersurface having a translucent coating thereon, said base being inclineddownwardly and inwardly from the lower edge of said wall and havingalplurality of annular terraces on the inner surface thereof to directthe rays of light fromsuch source of light downwardly in a predeterminedarea, said terraces each having a stippled upper surface and asubstantially upright side wall having a plurality of vertical notchestherein.

JACOB SAMUEL HAMEL.

REFERENCES CITED The ffollowing references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES'PATENTS Number Name Date 755,197 Wadsworth Mar. 22, 19041,480,599 Cravath et a1 Jan. 15, 1924 1,543,605 Harrison June 23, 1925v1,881,767 Lundy Oct. 11, 1932 2,043,193 Dunn et al Jan. 2, 19362,068,246 Rolph Jan. 19, 1937

